Sarcocystis infection was detected in 93% of horses in Mongolia. Using the compress method, sarcocysts were found in the muscles of the diaphragm, heart and tongue in 40 of the 43 horses that were slaughtered at the Makh Impex Meat Company in Ulaan Baatar in July 1998. The muscle of the tongue showed the highest rate (97.5%) of infection. The distribution of sarcocysts in the muscles was positi...

Sarcocystosis, in recent times has been recognized as a disease in animals and man. With the attention of scientists on this problem all over the world, work on prevalence, morphology, life cycle, transmission, pathogenesis, immunology, biochemistry and prophylaxis of this parasite has been initiated in domestic animals in India.

The innate immune system is the first mechanism of vertebrate defense against pathogen infection. In this study, we present evidence for a novel immune evasion mechanism of Trypanosoma cruzi, mediated by host cell plasma membrane-derived vesicles. We found that T. cruzi metacyclic trypomastigotes induced microvesicle release from blood cells early in infection. Upon their release, microvesicles...

Trypanosoma cruzi, a hemoflagellate protozoan (family Trypanosomatidae), is the ethiological agent of Chagas disease, which is affecting 16-18 million people, with more than 100 million exposed to the risk of infection. Higher plants are a potential source of new drugs to improve the treatment of Chagase disease. Until recently, Rutacea, Meliaceae, Simaroubaceae and Burceraceae families have be...

Protein geranylgeranyltransferase type I (PGGT-I) and protein farnesyltransferase (PFT) occur in many eukaryotic cells. Both consist of two subunits, the common alpha subunit and a distinct beta subunit. In the gene database of protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease, a putative protein that consists of 401 amino acids with approximately 20% amino acid sequence identi...

Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) is an intracellular protozoan parasite and the etiological agent of Chagas disease, a chronic infectious illness that affects millions of people worldwide. Although the role of TLR and Nod1 in the control of T. cruzi infection is well-established, the involvement of inflammasomes remains to be elucidated. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time that T. cruzi infec...

There is currently no information regarding Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi infections in donkeys in Mexico. Here, we determined the presence of antibodies against S. neurona and N. hughesi in donkeys in the northern Mexican state of Durango. Serum samples of 239 domestic donkeys (Equus asinus) were assayed for S. neurona and N. hughesi antibodies using home-made enzyme-linked immunoas...

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is characterized by immunopathology driven by IFN-γ secreting Th1-like T cells. T. cruzi has a thick coat of mucin-like glycoproteins covering its surface, which plays an important role in parasite invasion and host immunomodulation. It has been extensively described that T. cruzi or its products-like GPI anchors iso...

Trypanosoma cruzi is the protozoan parasite that causes Chagas' heart disease, a potentially fatal cardiomyopathy prevalent in Central and South America. Infection with T. cruzi induces cardiac myosin autoimmunity in susceptible humans and mice, and this autoimmunity has been suggested to contribute to cardiac inflammation. To address how T. cruzi induces cardiac myosin autoimmunity, we investi...